Single-file diffusion with non-thermal initial conditions

Single-file diffusion is a theoretically challenging many-body problem where the calculation of even the simplest observables, e.g. mean square displacement, for a tracer particle requires an elaborate mathematical machinery. There is therefore a need for simple approaches which provide intuitive understandings and predict qualitatively correct behaviours. Here we put forward a scaling-type method which we use to investigate the influence of non-thermal initial conditions on the dynamics of a tracer particle. With our new approach we reproduce, up to scaling, several known long and short time asymptotic results for the tracer particle mean square displacement. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.